


All Your Perfect Imperfections

by BiziBee



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Kisses, Married Life, Noise Sensitivity, hand holding, implied emotional abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 00:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9854066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiziBee/pseuds/BiziBee
Summary: Farmer Bizi slips up whilst attempting to prepare a  birthday meal for Elliot, and breaks down on the floor. Luckily, her husband is there to give her the reassurance she needs.





	

Bizi knew she wasn't the best cook in the world. It was a fact; it was just a legit fact she'd known her entire life, or at least, from the moment she'd burned the potatoes at Thanksgiving, and that she'd constantly left a numerous amount of grilled cheeses unattended and come back to find them burnt.

So, why was she in the kitchen now, of all places? And with a plethora of ingredients spread out on the counter? Well, simply put, it was her husband's birthday, and at the moment, he was out at the beach. She saw this as the perfect chance to surprise him with his favorite meal of crab cakes for lunch when he came home later.

_Now, I have the recipe...if only I had the smarts..._

She hummed, cracking open an egg over the bowl and tossing the shell aside. Every now and then she paused to take a peek at the recipe, just to make double sure she was getting everything right. Regardless of having recipes at her attention, she just always seemed to fail at following them properly, whether it was misreading or missing a detail. Even with the various dishes she'd cooked in the years she'd lived by herself, none of them had quite ended up perfect yet.

Yeah, she didn't think her cooking was that awful, it was definitely an improvement over how badly she used to do. Maybe her tastebuds were just too used to the burnt, hard meals she'd produced. But this was different; this wasn't just a meal for her, this was a meal for Elliot too. He'd never said bad about her cooking, but she did feel a little upset for him having to constantly put up with her scorched meals, some of them almost looking like they'd had flamethrowers taken to them.

That's why she was determined to get this one right. Especially since it was Elliot's birthday.

By now, most of the ingredients were already in the bowl. The only thing left it seemed...was the crab.

Ugh. Bizi wrinkled her nose as she picked up a knife, and picked up the small, slimey half of crab she'd wisely chosen to slice off earlier. It was better to get the worst part over with, at the least, all she had to do was mix them in. But even that seemed like a tedious process.

It wasn't as awful she thought, once all the crab pieces were in, she searched the cabinets for a whisk. Of course, it was in the highest cabinet, so she found herself having to stand on her tiptoes to reach, even though she was fairly tall. Grunting, she climbed halfway onto the counter, just barely reached the spot where the cooking utensils were conveniently kept.

At this same time, the front door to the farmhouse opened and she could hear Bailey barking excitedly as a pair of footsteps padded across the wooden floor. A small smile crossed her face as she came down from the counter, now holding the whisk.  
"Bizi?" An accented voice called out, followed by a short chuckle with some barking mixed in. The barking obviously coming from Bailey, because if it was coming from Elliot, that would just be weird.

The dog was all but jumping over the long haired man as he entered into the kitchen, smiling upon seeing his wife. She was holding the bowl and mixing in all the ingredients, though this didn't stop her from greeting him with a kiss as he approached her.  
"Hey babe, have a good time at the beach?" She smiled back at him, turning to the counter to set the bowl down. Elliot stooped to pet the fluffy pooch still bothering him and sat at the kitchen table, reaching down to take his shoes off.

"A very nice time, actually. I watched the waves come and go, just like old times." he stated, having to set his shoes on the table to avoid having them being ripped to shreds by the dog still bouncing around the kitchen. "Have you been alright here, by yourself?"

"Me? Yeah, I've been great!" Bizi finished whisking and set the batter-covered whisk down on the counter. "I managed to get all the crops watered and fed some of the animals. Lucky for me, Cluckers decided to be nice enough to drop some eggs for me."

She beamed, gesturing towards the bowl.

"I kinda needed 'em, you know..."

"Ah, I see." Elliot raised a dubious eyebrow upon noticing his wife was attempting cooking, but tried to remain as polite as possible. He had to admit, he was still a little scarred from her attempts at their first meal together as a married couple, which had basically been a very-burnt steak and raw potatoes. Granted she was a much better cook now, but she still had room for improvement.

She seemed to read his thoughts and snorted, placing a hand on her hip.

"Doubting my cooking skills, are we?" she teased. "Well, maybe I'll just pour all this down the sink then...."

"No need for that, darling. You know I like your cooking as much as anyone."

"Aha, see, you said 'like'! 'Like'! Not love, I wonder why?"

"I think you know why." Elliot crossed himself, leaning back in his seat. "You aren't a bad cook, dear, but I'd daresay not even Bailey likes your food."

"Ooh, touche." Bizi picked up an oven mitt, shooting him a coy smile. She noticed said-dog was gnawing away at his own food bowl, shaking her head before turning her attention back to pouring the batter into a pan. Elliot eyed her with curiosity, now leaning back forward to get a better look at what she was doing.

"Just what lovely creation are you making?" he inquired. She looked back at him, as she finished scraping the last bit of batter into the pan.

"You'll have to wait and see." she answered, giving a small wink.

"Aw, not even a hint?"

"Nope."

"Bizi, I'm astounded." Elliot pretended to look offended, but quickly laughed. "No, really. Whatever is darling, I'm sure it'll taste wonderful."

"I hope it does. I've worked my ass off in this kitchen for at least two hours now trying to get this recipe right." Bizi grumbled, setting the bowl down. "If these things burn I swear I'll just--I don't know, I'll probably chuck 'em out the window or something."

"I wouldn't be too doubtful." Elliot got up from his seat, carrying his shoes with him. He placed another kiss on his wife's cheek, causing her to lightly blush. "Maybe you'll have some luck this time."  
He turned to leave.

"I'll be in my study, I've still got a chapter that needs writing." he said. "Let me know when lunch is ready, dear."

"Will do, captain." Bizi saluted him as he left, then turned back to the oven. It was all pre-heated, it seemed, so she picked up the pan and opened the oven door, having to lean back to avoid getting her glasses fogged up. Regardless of this, she found herself having to take her glasses off to make sure she was putting the pan in correctly.

Since the crab cakes were in the oven, she turned her attention towards the stack of dirty dishes on the counter, those dishes mainly being the batter-covered whisk and bowl, and the little measuring cups. Sighing, she heaved the small items into the sink, and moved to pick up the bowl.

As she was about to put the bowl into the sink, she yelped at seeing a stray crab leg still in it and gagged, moving swiftly to the trash can to dispose of it. In her haste, she didn't notice Bailey the dog had finished his meal and was now trotting in the same direction she was watching, right under her legs.

It was debatable what was louder; the bowl breaking, the dog yelping, or Bizi's scream, as both the human, dog, and the ceramic object hit the floor. Despite only one of these breaking, Bizi still found herself unable to get up. Her knees remained glued as she pushed herself up the best she could, and she gasped at seeing the broken bowl.

_No, no, no, no..._

Her hands shook as she moved to grab a broken piece, and even Bailey whimpered in concern.

Now the moment Elliot had heard the loud crash in the kitchen, he instantly set his pen down and looked up, not hesitating to make his way across the house and into the other half. It was commonly known his wife was a klutz, probably the queen of the klutzes. It wasn't uncommon to hear something breaking, shortly followed by her panicked scream.

He entered into the kitchen, where he found her on the floor, on her knees, scrambling to pick up the pieces of broken bowl, her arms visibly shaking. When she looked up at him, he was astounded to see her eyes were red and puffy, like she'd been crying. She quickly wiped the tears still on her face and sniffed, scrambling to pick up the pieces once more.

"I--I'm so-sorry, I'm sorry, I tripped." she quickly apologized, her shaky tone causing Elliot grief. He sighed, and grabbing a dustpan, walked to her, kneeling down to help. Her arms still shook violently and she kept dropping the ceramic pieces, so she ended up watching as he scooped the broken pieces into the pan.

"Ba-babe, I'm sorry..." He didn't respond as she apologized again, but instead of getting up, sat the pan aside, reaching to take her quivering hands into his. He sighed sadly, gently rubbing her calloused hands with his more-smoother fingers.

"My love..." he mumbled, looking up at her with an equally-as-sad smile. "Please, don't cry. You did nothing wrong, it wasn't your fault."

"I kn--I know, I know..." She hiccuped, looking down from him. "I just can't help it...I told you how my dad was, you know how he was. I just get so scared you're going to flip out on me one of these days."

"But I won't, you know that." He squeezed her hands, then released one of them to lift her chin up, to face him. It broke his heart to see how puffy her face was, and he shook his head, brushing a tear aside with his thumb. "I promised you that, I know how you are with yelling...I swore I'd never treat you that way, you deserve better."

"You're just saying that..." Bizi mumbled, pushing herself back to stand up, though remained seated with her legs crossed. "One of these days you're gonna get mad at me, I've broken so much of our crap and burnt so much food...why haven't you flipped out on me yet? Seriously, you've got the patience of an angel..."

"It's simple, love." Bailey ran between, as if he were escaping a crime scene. Elliot scooted a bit closer, re-taking her hand in his. "After everything you told me, I could never imagine myself treating you that way. You're my wife, and even if you are clumsy..."  
She smiled a bit, as he caressed her hand.

"And a bad cook. But that's not why I fell in love with you."

"Oh, and why did you marry me?" Curiously, Bizi eyed him, brushing back another tear from her eye. Elliot thought for a moment, and lifted her hand, placing a tender kiss on it.

"Because you're the only one who ever really understood my dreams." She didn't respond, though her already-flushed cheeks went a little deeper and she looked down."You share my imagination, and you inspire me. You've fought and worked hard to be a better person, and I admire that."

Bizi's smile now broke out into a grin, albeit a flustered one. Her face flushed even deeper.

"Ah...hey, seriously...you...you're a dork, you know that, right?" she mumbled, covering her face with her free hand. It was now her husband's turn to grin, and he shrugged, looking up in amusement.

"Well, you do tell me that everyday..." he mused. "I think I know by now, yeah."

"Aw, cut that out." Playfully, his wife punched him in the shoulder, causing him to let out a small gasp. "I'm supposed to be the sassy spouse here, remember?"

"Well aware, dear."

"Good." She heavily sighed, flopping both hands in her lap. "Well I dunno about you, but I think I wanna get off this floor before I decide I like it here. How about you?"

"It does sound more appealing." Elliot agreed, and grabbed onto a chair nearby to support himself. He held out a hand to help his wife to her feet, although she stumbled a bit before regaining balance. Even after gaining balance, though, she still found herself wobbling forward, thankfully, Elliot caught her before she hit the floor again, or even the table this time.

"Whoa. Hey. I'm okay." she gasped, and looked up at her husband. "Thanks."

He smiled back at her as she stood back, but she stood back, looking down at the pan. She surveyed the broken pieces of bowl, and her gaze went back to him.

"Sorry about the bowl..." she murmured.

"It was just a bowl, dear, I'm sure we can replace it." he reassured her, going to pick the dustpan. "I care more about your well-being much more than a broken bowl, because unlike that bowl, you're irreplaceable."

"Geez, aren't you just the cheesiest..."

"I mean it. I'd rather have a hundred broken bowls than having to see you upset."

"Well okay babe, but you'd be paying for all those bowls, just know that." Bizi joked, leaning back against the counter as Elliot disposed of the bowl bits into the wastebin. "I'm not about to spend all my hard-earned money on some frickin' ceramics."

"Understood, love." Though he sighed, he smiled over at her. He walked back over and took her by the hands again, pulling her close. Brushing a strand of her short brown hair back, he looked her over. Though still slightly flushed, she was smiling now, and he could see no tears present. Noticing how he looked at her, she tipped her head at him, lifting an eyebrow.

"What are you looking at?" she asked. A soft chuckle emitted from behind his lips, and he tipped his own head, cupping her cheek in his hand.

"Oh...nothing." he said. "Just my wife, who's not frowning anymore. I like her when she's like this, especially when she's smiling. It makes her look so much more lovely."

Bizi opened her mouth, about to tease him for his cheesiness again, but instead, just laughed.

"You...god, thanks for the reminder of why I fell in love with you..." she mumbled, before the two exchanged a lingering kiss. As if to intrude on the moment, the timer happened to off behind them, blaring loudly through the small kitchen.

This, however, did not seem to interrupt the moment at all.


End file.
